The January monthly SMBDC meeting is sponsored by Brew Coffeehouse, providing participants with delicious coffee and snacks on Wednesday, January 19 from 9 – 10:30 am.

Mark Zuckerberg

At the close of 2010 when Time Magazine named Mark Zuckerberg their person of the year, they not only paid homage to the creator of Facebook. They also recognized the dynamic change that he has brought about in the way that more than 500600 million people live and share their lives in the digital age. Soon after, the Washington Post announced that Facebook had ascended into the number one position as the world’s most visited Website. What was once a Google-centric Web has become a people-centric Web.

But, something even greater has taken place. We no longer think of Facebook as a Website. It has become a place… a virtual place that you go to when you want to hang out and check in with your friends. The next monthly meeting of the Social Media Breakfast Door County (SMBDC) group will explore what this shift means to the Peninsula’s business owners, independent artists and non-profit organizations who are seeking the greatest return on their marketing investment.

“How Facebook Pages are the new Yellow Pages – and the listings are free,” will be January’s topic of discussion led by new media marketing consultant Stephen Kastner, founder of the SMBDC meetings. “The past decade was all about building a World Wide Web of information delivered in Websites,” says Kastner. “The next decade is already more about the World Wide Web of people.”

Stephen Kastner

Kastner publishes a free book, “6 Steps to Becoming a Social Business” in which he quotes Professor Sut Jhally, founder of the Media Education Foundation: “Advertisers have to go to where the audience is… if they want to sell products. They have no option but to go where the audience has gone. If the audience has gone online, gone to iPods, gone to Facebook – wherever the audience has gone – that is where advertisers must go.”

The book is a never-ending project, written about a subject that is continuously changing. Printing it would be a waste of time Kastner says. In three months it has already had more than 15 revisions, the most-recent of which moves Facebook into the “First Step” position in order of importance. You can download a free copy of the latest version at his DesignWise.net Website.

On the third Wednesday of each month, Kastner brings real people together at various Door County locations to have a breakfast dialogue about social media. The English Inn in Fish Creek, Glas Coffeehouse in Sturgeon Bay and the Harbor Fish Market in Baileys harbor have each hosted SMBDC meetings which began in October, 2010.

The January breakfast will be sponsored and hosted by Brew Coffee House in Ellison Bay. Rumor has it that Jennifer Lee, Door County artist, barista and Brew manager will be baking some specialty treats, providing complimentary coffee and snacks for participants. The SMBDC meetings are free and open to the public, but an RSVP is requested out of consideration for the host venue.

You can email stephen.kastner@smbdc.com or call 920.256.9449 with questions or to make a casual reservation for the Wednesday, January 19 SMBDC meeting at Brew Coffee House in Ellison Bay from 9 – 10:30 am. More information is available online at SMBDC.com.

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